


up the ladder and down the wall

by hyunghoney



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Established Relationship, Falling In Love, Kihyun as Rapunzel, M/M, Magic, Rapunzel Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-19 01:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20648819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunghoney/pseuds/hyunghoney
Summary: Kihyun's voice reverses time itself and grants immortality. His mother locks him away so no one can reach him except for her. But like in all proper fairytales, Wonho is the knight in shining armour (or more specifically baker in dusty apron) who has come to whisk him away.





	up the ladder and down the wall

**Author's Note:**

> (Given prompt: Rapunzel!AU Kihyun is locked away in a tower because of his beautiful voice that heals his "mother". He receives a guest one day that shows him life outside the tower.)
> 
> This is a pretty straightforward spin on the Rapunzel / Tangled storyline, except that it's Kihyun's voice rather than his hair that is magic. Enjoy!

Kihyun likes to think he’s a good son, all things considered. 

Evidence in his favour: 

  1. He listens to his mother. 
  2. He’s been doing the cooking and cleaning in the house since he was seven.
  3. He sings for his mother anytime she wants, even when his throat is hurting. 
  4. He never complains about having to keep his hair long, even though it gets really hot on some days and makes him uncomfortable. 
  5. He _almost _never asks to leave his tower. 

His mother, too, agrees that he’s a very good son. She tells him this every other day – when he’s bringing her food, when he sings her a song. He loves her praising words. He wants to be a good son – who doesn’t want to be loved? Even though his mother keeps too many secrets, and yells at him for being curious, and leaves him alone for weeks on end with neither warning nor explanation, he still wants her to love him. 

“Kihyun, my dear, will you be alright by yourself for these few weeks?” She asks. He nods, but doesn’t look up from where he stands, head bowed over the basket he’s preparing for her. She runs her hands down along his back, smoothing his dark hair. Then she tips his head up to look at her. He hopes she can’t feel him trembling. She continues, “You know Mummy hates to leave you, darling.” 

“I know that. But you do anyway.” He mumbles the second part, even though he knows she hates mumbling. Her eyes narrow at him. There’s no warmth in them. His breath catches. Then she smiles, pinching his cheek just hard enough to hurt. He smiles back at her when she lets go. 

He breathes again when she walks away from him. When the basket is filled neatly with food and supplies (fruits on the left, water on the right, piled atop the clothes), he sets it near the window. He can hear her moving in her bedroom, packing her clothes for the trip. He’d offer to help, but he’s not allowed in there. Not that there was anything interesting in it, when he’d secretly looked. 

When his mother returns, Kihyun is ready with the basket of supplies and his most wistful smile. She takes it from him. 

“You’re such a good son,” she tells him. Despite everything, he feels warmth spread in his chest at hearing her words. He lets her run her fingers through his hair, combing the messy strands out of his face. “Will you sing Mummy a song?” 

Kihyun obliges. The tune is a familiar one to the pair of them. 

_ “Girls and boys, come out to play, _

_ The moon doth shine as bright as day; _

_ Leave your supper, and leave your sleep, _

_ And come with your playfellows into the street.”  _

The song is a nursery rhyme, one she used to sing to him as a child. He sings it with ease, from years of habit and practise. His eyes remain on her as he sings: The strands of her dark hair that were starting to turn grey blacken, her skin tightens, her posture straightens. There are no more wrinkles at the corners of her lips when she smiles at him. 

_ “Come with a whoop, come with a call, _

_ Come with a good will or not at all. _

_ Up the ladder and down the wall, _

_ A halfpenny roll will serve us all. _

_ You find milk, and I'll find flour, _

_ And we'll have a pudding in half an hour.” _

It was rather strange of her, he thinks, to teach such a song to a little boy who was hidden away in a tower, with no playfellows to speak of, or freedom to play outside at night. Still, the rhyme has a pretty enough tune, and it does the trick. 

His mother stands at last, looking rejuvenated. 

“Thank you, dear.” 

She heads to the open window, from which he can see a pink and gold sky with the sun beginning to set. Kihyun has watched a lot of sunsets from his tower, and each time they are mesmerizing as the last, the only semblance of beauty he can see of a world he cannot be a part of. Her figure blocks the scenery as she sits on the edge of it, a hand out. He edges closer and lets down his hair. 

It only hurts a little when the weight of his mother’s body pulls at his scalp. He’s used to it, but still sighs in relief when she’s been lowered to the ground below. He waves goodbye to her till she disappears through the hedge. 

Then he pulls up a chair to sit by the window, and waits. 

Evidence decidedly not in his favour (regarding the aforementioned case of whether he is a good son): 

  1. A voice that yells “Is she gone? Let me up!”. 
  2. Kihyun knocking the chair over as he leaps to his feet. 
  3. The boy that climbs through the window moments later, smiling like the sun itself, and falling into Kihyun’s open arms. 
  4. Kihyun’s shouts of delight, as he throws his arms around the boy’s neck. 
  5. Hoseok. 

“I’ve missed you,” Hoseok tells him immediately when Kihyun releases him. “How’ve you been doing?” 

The response spill from Kihyun’s mouth like a bubbling volcano; He trips over his words in his excitement to reply. Taking Hoseok’s hand, he pulls him further into the room. They stop when they reach the bed. Without a second thought, Hoseok throws himself onto it. Kihyun looks at him for a moment, a thoughtlessly handsome image on the messy sheets. Then Hoseok throws his hands up, beckoning Kihyun over, and he joins him. 

“It’s been so long since I last saw you,” Kihyun complains. Hoseok pulls him closer till their bodies are pressed close against each other. Kihyun lets his arms wrap around him, smiling contentedly at the affection. 

“It’s been like a week and a half, you’re too impatient.” 

Kihyun whines exaggeratedly. “That’s too long.” 

Hoseok laughs. “How long’s your mum gonna be gone? I’ll visit you every day until she comes back.” 

Hoseok is absolutely delighted to hear that Kihyun’s mother will be away for three weeks this time. Kihyun feels his heart skip a little at seeing Hoseok’s bright smile. Hoseok’s happiness infects the whole room, brightening it despite the absence of the sun. No matter how many times he’s seen it, he’s always happy to know that he’s the cause of it. It feels like magic. He wants to live in the feeling. 

“This time, will you let me take you away?” Hoseok asks. It comes out as a whisper, like he almost doesn’t want Kihyun to hear it. Kihyun wishes he hadn’t asked. There’s a silence, which stretches on and on. 

Kihyun swings his legs off the bed and stands, leaving Hoseok stretching out on the mattress. Hoseok reaches out for him but gives up quickly, choosing to make himself comfortable between the sheets. Kihyun pulls the curtains close. The room gets a bit darker. Hoseok watches Kihyun light the candles one by one. Kihyun doesn’t want to turn back to look at him. 

“You know I can’t do that,” Kihyun replies eventually. 

Hoseok only smiles. He gets up too, after a while, and walks to where Kihyun is. 

In an ideal situation, of course they’d be going out together as often as they wanted to. But the reality is this: Kihyun’s overbearing mother, and this hidden tower, and secrets and hiding and clandestine meetings behind her back. They both know Kihyun can’t leave, but Hoseok keeps asking.

“I’m sorry,” Hoseok says. Kihyun doesn’t know what he’s apologising for. 

Hoseok presses a kiss into his hair. In turn, Kihyun brushes Hoseok’s soft cheeks with one finger. (It’s a little powdery – Hoseok, baker’s son, was always a little ruffled from helping his parents at the shop.) Hoseok rewards him with a smile, spreading across his face as he looks at Kihyun. They stand there for a moment, just happy to be together. 

The reality is enough for now. It’s a miracle enough that he has Hoseok in his life at all. 

Of course, when he first  _ met _ Hoseok, he thought it was the opposite of a miracle. 

* * *

Kihyun wasn’t scared when he first saw the man clambering through his window. He was just very, very confused. There were so many questions running through his mind. First of all, how did the man get up there? It was a looming, steep tower with no ladder or stairs to boast of. Second (and more importantly), how did he even find the tower in the first place? Kihyun’s mother had made it very clear that she’d placed him somewhere the rest of the world could never reach. 

“Hey!” Kihyun yelled. The intruder jumped back, shouting in surprise. 

“Who the hell are you?” Kihyun demanded, trying to sound authoritative and not confused. In one hand he brandished a broomstick, in the other a candle. In the candlelight, he could make out the intruder’s features, warped by shock. He seemed to be about Kihyun’s age, big eyes set in a soft round face, mouth open in a shout. 

The interrogation lasted for about half a minute, the man telling him the truth after nervously eyeing his brandished broomstick. The intruder, as it turned out, was the son of a baker from the nearest town. He’d been exploring the outskirts of the town for years, and finally wandered through the tall bushes to where Kihyun’s tower stood. 

“And you just… decided to climb it?” Kihyun asked him, incredulous. The intruder – Hoseok, as he’d confessed – nodded, a little sheepish. 

Now that he’d gotten his answers, Kihyun had no idea where to go from there. He opted to stare at Hoseok; He’d never seen another human other than his mother before. Hoseok was around his age and height, with soft cheeks and round eyes. Unlike Kihyun, his hair was short and brown, his soft bangs falling into his eyes. Kihyun observed him for a while, curious about everything. 

“Now it’s your turn,” Hoseok had announced, pulling him out of his reverie. “Who are you? What are you doing up here?” 

* * *

Kihyun knows he loves Hoseok. It’s as true as the sunset, as joyful as sunrise. He knows he loves Hoseok because when he thinks of happiness, he remembers Hoseok. And he knows he makes Hoseok happy too. He marvels at how Hoseok could possibly be his, despite his mother’s best efforts to keep him isolated from the world. Somehow, for some reason, Hoseok had seen a fourteen year old boy in a tall foreboding tower with a broomstick for a weapon and black hair so long it was pooling at his feet, and decided he was worth knowing. 

If his mother knew, she’d be livid. So he never told her. 

It’s the middle of the night now, and Hoseok sleeps in Kihyun’s arms. Kihyun used to wonder if his parents wonder where he disappears off to some nights, not returning until late the next day. Hoseok had told him: “they aren’t like your mum”. Now, his eyelids flutter with honey-hearted sleep, his fingers grasping the sheets with dreaming strength. Kihyun rests against his warm body and smiles. 

Hoseok doesn’t know this, but Kihyun wants nothing more than to let himself be whisked away. He doesn’t know where Hoseok would take him, but he’d be so happy to be by his side, and to be free. Free from his lonely, imprisoning tower; Free from his overbearing, terrifying mother; Free from helplessness and the bonds of family and gratitude and fear. 

But he’s so afraid. Where could Hoseok take him where his mother couldn’t reach? Where could he go, a nearly grown man with no idea how the world works and no family or friends, except Hoseok? 

Kihyun knows his mother’s power – he’s read about witches in the books on his shelves, and seen the same magic in her glowing eyes when he catches her performing rituals in the dead of the night. He knows his own magic too; he’s seen how his singing voice reverses time and keeps his mother young. He knows she’ll never stand by and let him go, not when she’s got the secret to immortality safely locked away in a tower calling her “Mother”. 

Hoseok is fearless, careless, bold. Kihyun wants to be like him – if he wasn’t so afraid, he’d have let Hoseok take him away from the very first day they met. But he is afraid. He loves Hoseok, but going away forever is a terrifying thought. 

It’s all too complicated to explain to Hoseok, so Kihyun contents himself with nuzzling into his side and closing his eyes. 

He drifts off into sleep and dreams of freedom – Hoseok’s arms wrap tight around him as they dream. They awake a tangled mess of limbs. The sounds of the morning surround them – birds, wind, Hoseok’s sleepy stretching – as they sit up. Hoseok clambers to his feet in a rush to the kitchen, shouting “I’ll make you breakfast!” as he runs past Kihyun. Kihyun just laughs and watches him go. 

Over breakfast, Kihyun mulls over his words. Hoseok watches him patiently, not pressing him to talk. 

“I want to go with you,” Kihyun tells him. “Not forever. Just… Take me out today. Show me everything I’ve been missing.” 

Hoseok agrees readily. They’re in no rush, anyway. They’ve got the whole world to explore, and Hoseok will bring him back to the tower as many times as he wants. Until he’s ready to go forever. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was pretty short and uneventful, but I hope it's soft enough to justify the lack of plot :)


End file.
